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Tim Scott

Green construction goes beyond energy efficiency and covers almost all aspects of construction: from site preparation to homeowner education and maintenance. Click here for details.

Green Construction

Everything seems to be "going green" these days- from cars, to companies, to coffee. However, sometimes it can be hard to tell what that really means, especially when it comes to your current or future home.

Building green means incorporating environmental considerations and resource efficiency into every step of the home building and land development process to minimize environmental impact. During the design, construction, and operation of a home, energy and water efficiency, lot development, resource efficient building design and materials, indoor environmental quality and homeowner maintenance should all be considered. Although we cannot entirely avoid affecting the environment when a house is built, green building can work toward minimizing that environmental impact.

The concept of green building isn't new—our great-grandparents built climate-appropriate homes using locally-available materials. Today's green homes incorporate not only climatic considerations, but are resource and energy efficient, safer for occupants, and often less expensive to maintain.

The Arkansas Energy Code is a combination of the International Energy Conservation Code and ASHRAE 90.1 standards. These standards in addition to the Arkansas Energy Code for New Building Construction Supplements and Amendments serve as the “Arkansas Energy Code” for residential and commercial builders in the state.

The REScheck product group makes it fast and easy for builders, designers, and contractors to determine whether new homes, additions, and alterations meet the requirements of the IECC or a number of state energy codes, including Arkansas. REScheck also simplifies compliance determinations for building officials, plan checkers, and inspectors by allowing them to quickly determine if a low-rise residence meets the code.

REScheck is appropriate for insulation and window trade-off calculations in residential detached one- and two-family buildings and multi-family buildings three stories or less in height above grade, such as apartments, condominiums, and townhouses. REScheck works by performing a simple U-factor x Area (UA) calculation for each building assembly to determine the overall UA of a building. The UA that would result from a building conforming to the code requirements is compared against the UA for your building. If the total heat loss (represented as a UA) through the envelope of your building does not exceed the total heat loss from the same building conforming to the code, the software generates a report that declares your building is compliant with the code.

REScheck Desktop can be downloaded and installed directly to your desktop, while REScheck-Web™ is accessible directly from the website without having to download and install.

A simplified code compliance tool was developed to evaluate compliance with the 2011 Arkansas Energy Code for New Building Construction based on current Arkansas building practices, technologies and product availability.

Each climate zone's compliance tool prescribes efficiency levels for walls and ceilings. When these prescribed insulation levels are used with an allowable window percentage (of the gross wall area) for a particular window frame type, then the building will comply with the thermal requirements of the 2011 Arkansas Energy Code for New Building Construction.